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The 13th Amendment, Crime Legislation, and America’s High Incarceration Rate

May 08, 2024

Today, 25 percent of the world’s documented prison population is incarcerated in the United States. Despite America being the land of the free, there are more recorded prisoners here than in any other country: 2,068,800. So, how did the United States get here? Over the last 40 years, numerous factors have contributed to the dramatic […]

Criminal Justice Education Equality

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 3: Examining the Impact of Prison Education

July 01, 2023

In Part 1 of this series, we saw that more severe approaches to school discipline—including “zero-tolerance” policies—have been statistically linked to higher rates of incarceration, especially among Black boys. This is seen as a key contributor to mass incarceration, which Part 2 showed has grown substantially since the final decades of the 20th century. In […]

Criminal Justice Education Equality

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 2: The Debate Over Mass Incarceration

June 22, 2023

Should We Decarcerate? Since the start of the War on Drugs, the United States has adopted and enforced policies that have led to mass incarceration, with nearly half of all incarcerations due to drug crimes.1 According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the rate of incarceration in the United States outpaces every other nation on earth, […]

Criminal Justice Education Equality

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 1: Defining the School-to-Prison Pipeline

June 14, 2023

What Do People Mean When They Talk About the School-to-Prison Pipeline? For decades, many researchers who study the public education system have discussed the impact of the “school-to-prison pipeline”: escalating punishments, primarily in “high-poverty, high-minority schools,” intended to deter unwanted student behaviors leading to missed class time, a lost sense of belonging within the school, […]

Criminal Justice Equality Social Issues

What Do “Defund the Police” and “Police Abolition” Mean? And What Do They Not Mean?

February 22, 2023

Following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, a call by activists to “defund the police” achieved national attention. Supporters of defunding the police have argued that—at least some of—the billions of dollars spent on policing each year could be better used by investing in educational, recreational, and mental health […]

Mishandling Classified Information

February 01, 2023

The handling of sensitive information has become a headline-grabbing issue in recent months owed to the discovery of classified documents at the homes and offices of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, and former Vice President Mike Pence. The political consequences of any judgment of wrongdoing on behalf of former President Trump, President Biden, […]

A Tragedy in Buffalo Sparks Multiple Debates

May 26, 2022

On Saturday, May 14, a gunman killed 10 people and wounded three others in a supermarket serving a predominantly Black population in eastern Buffalo, New York. The shooter, an 18-year-old white man, traveled over 200 miles to the Tops Supermarket.1 He was the apparent author of an online screed that claims the attack was meant […]

The Biden Administration Cracks Down on “Ghost Guns”

April 18, 2022

Early last week, President Joe Biden and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced a final ruling to limit the manufacture and sale of so-called “ghost guns”—privately manufactured firearms without serial numbers.1 This final ruling is part of a series of measures announced by President Biden and the Department of Justice, dating back to last year, […]

The Debate Over School Resource Officers and the #CounselorsNotCops Campaign

February 16, 2021

The debates over defunding or reforming the police and addressing the school-to-prison pipeline have merged to focus on the issue of police officers in schools. School resource officers (SROs) are career law enforcement officers who work in one or more schools.1 According to the Department of Justice, SROs are “responsible for safety and crime prevention […]

Historic Second Impeachment, Part Two: Questions of Crime and Punishment

February 08, 2021

This week, the Senate commences an historic second trial of former President Donald Trump, stemming from his actions pertaining to the January 6 Capitol riot.1 Against a backdrop of heightened security, threats made against members of Congress,2 and tensions within the Republican Party,3 senators must determine President Trump’s innocence or guilt, as well as what […]

Current Issues Blog

The 13th Amendment, Crime Legislation, and America’s High Incarceration Rate

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 3: Examining the Impact of Prison Education

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 2: The Debate Over Mass Incarceration

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 1: Defining the School-to-Prison Pipeline

What Do “Defund the Police” and “Police Abolition” Mean? And What Do They Not Mean?

Mishandling Classified Information

A Tragedy in Buffalo Sparks Multiple Debates

The Biden Administration Cracks Down on “Ghost Guns”

The Debate Over School Resource Officers and the #CounselorsNotCops Campaign

Historic Second Impeachment, Part Two: Questions of Crime and Punishment

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